2. When you study the New Testament you find that it teaches that there are things we are responsible to do as Christians and also there are things that have already been done on our behalf.

3. I don’t think there are any true followers of Christ who would deny the existence of the Holy Spirit, but there are millions who live as though He does not exist.

4. This is Practical Atheism

5. I want to challenge you to do something over the next 8 weeks.

6. The purpose of our next 8 weeks is first to inform you of the truths of the Bible about the Spirit.

7. Then we want to invite you to begin to spend time with Him daily getting to know Him and His desires for your life.

8. Then I will invite you to ask Him daily to work His spiritual transformation IN you and THROUGH your life.

9. And then what will happen? Listen to John 16:12-15

10. Think of all the followers of Christ who have done great things in His name.

11. 1 Corinthians 2:3-5

12. John 14:15-17; 25-26

13. 1) Jesus left us a supernatural Helper who is called alongside of us.

14. He is the same type of comforter as Jesus.

15. The moment we become a Christian He enters into our lives and He never leaves our lives.

16. Verse 17 uses a word that means a “permanent, uninterrupted residence”.

17. Romans 8:9

18. Imagine what it would be like to have Jesus standing by you right here today!

19. In John 16:7 Jesus tells them that it is actually to their ADVANTAGE that the Counselor comes and He leaves.

20. 2) The Spirit gives us the ability to understand the truth.

21. 3) The Spirit provides the power to work in us to transform us into the image of Jesus.

22. James 3:11

23. Galatians 5:22-23

24. 4) The Spirit provides the power to work through us to touch others.

25. Acts 1:8

26. This power is always there, but it is up to us to submit ourselves to the control of the Spirit so He will be able to apply full power IN us and THROUGH us.

27. ignition switch

28. Yet when we look at the work of the Spirit in the Bible and then look to see where He is working in today’s American church it’s not the same.

29. Some believers function without the help of the Spirit.

30. There are entire churches who function without the help of the Spirit.

31. What about you?

32. What if I told you that God gave me a supernatural ability to play basketball?

33. What should we do then?

34. The command in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit”, means to yield yourself to the control of the Spirit.”

35. How?

36. The first step is to discover the thinking of Jesus.

37. The second step is to believe that Jesus knows what He is talking about and all of this in here is TRUE!

38. The third step is to deny self.

39. Luke 17:33

40. The fourth step is that we must CONSISTENTLY surrender the authority of our lives to the Spirit.

41. Galatians 5:17 lets us know that our flesh wants to lead our own lives.

42. The Spirit wants us to let Him lead our lives.

43. The question for the next few weeks is when it comes to the thinking of Jesus is WHO is going to control your life?